Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Cleaning Up and Getting Uncrossed

I’m sure we’ve all experienced times in our lives when we just felt like nothing was going our way, and that bad luck was an ever-present companion. This is what can be referred to in conjure as being crossed up –and it can be a somewhat random occurrence from time to time, or it can be caused by negative energy that someone has deliberately sent our way. Whatever the case, there are fairly simple measure that one can take that will help clear away these kinds of energetic messes and get us back on the right track. And it all starts with cleansing!

Spiritual cleansing helps to clear away negative energy that has come into our lives, our homes, and our bodies, and thereby releases us from the residual effects, clearing our energy, and allowing us to once again be open to receiving healing, goodness, and prosperity. You can think of it just like you do about regular cleaning – if you don’t shower regularly, you will start to smell, and all kinds of bacteria and viruses will build up on the body. Your state of “stinkiness” causes people to start avoiding you, talking behind your back, and it could even get you fired! You may find yourself acting angry and short with these people as you react emotionally to their poor treatment of you, and this anger may carry over into your close relationships until even those begin to crumble. Being unclean can also make you more vulnerable to becoming infected by all the germs growing unchecked on your person, and you could become very sick, or small scratches and scrapes could become seriously infected.

The same metaphor extends to your home. If you are no longer taking care to clean yourself, you are also not likely to clean your home very well. The dishes will pile up and dangerous fungus and bacteria will begin to grow that can cause serious illnesses in everyone living there. If dust and trash pile up inside, it can make it difficult and even hazardous to breath, causing your lungs to become stressed, and making everyone present vulnerable to asthma, or other respiratory illnesses. Debris that is not removed from your home and yard will pile up, and soon you will have the Health Department being called to your home, and you may even face eviction! The longer this goes on, the more ants, roaches, mice, rats and other pests will inhabit your home, causing even more health risks and property damage!

This is exactly what can happen when we don’t have a system for keeping ourselves spiritual clean. Negativity can build up, and may reach a tipping point where suddenly nothing is going right. Often this tipping point can happen when a particularly stressful event happens that causes us to have to face more negativity than usual. Build-ups of negative energy can effect every aspect of life, but finances, relationships, and health are some of the most common areas of our life that may start to take a noticeable hit when we’re crossed up. What is the solution then? It’s simple. Clean it up!

You’re going to want to hit 2 key areas – your body and your home. (If the problem has a root in the workplace, then you’ll want to do some cleansing there too, as far as you are able.) Spiritual bathing has a very ancient history, and is one of the first lines of defense. You don’t need to be crossed up to take a spiritually cleansing bath; in fact it’s good to take one at regular intervals just to keep everything flowing smoothly and to keep negativity from having a chance to build up. Taking a very good cleansing bath is fairly simple.

First, we’ll mix together a few cleansing ingredients – a 3 Ingredient Cleansing Bath is very traditional in conjure.

Get yourself some:

• salt (sea salt, Epsom salt, or table salt – it really doesn’t matter, though you can easily get large bags of Epsom salt at the pharmacy for very little money)• hyssop• rue

Salt is known universally as a powerful cleanser, and hyssop and rue are two Uncrossing herbs extraordinaire. Hyssop is even mentioned in the Bible for its cleansing effect, and it cleanses away any negativity that we may have brought upon our self through our own actions, either consciously or unknowingly. Rue has a long history of use in cleansing in Europe, especially the Mediterranean area, where it is used to clean away the effects of malocchio, or the evil eye. Rue cleanses away negative energy that has its source in other people, either through them maliciously sending it your way, or simply from it accumulating on and around you due to your dealings with them. These 3 ingredients together can take care of pretty much any negative energy, no matter what the source.

Now you’ll want to make up enough of this to last you a few days. When you’re crossed up it’s traditional to bathe for a number of days in a row, to make sure that all the energy that has built up has been cleansed away thoroughly. I’m sure you can appreciate this reasoning – when cleansing something with really ground-in or long-standing dirt, you sometimes have to clean it several times before it is actually clean. The same goes for you! 3 days will likely be good enough (though in tough cases you may want to do a 13-day cleansing bath schedule, and possibly use a stronger cleansing mixture, such as the traditional 13-Herb Bath).

For the bath itself you will need:

• 3 Ingredient Cleansing Bath• 2 white candles• Clean change of clothes• Small container to put used bath water in• Cleansing incense such as Uncrossing, Van Van, frankincense resin, or simply some of the herb mixture burned on a charcoal (optional)• Copy of Psalm 51 “Cleanse me with hyssop…” if you do not have it memorized (optional)• The location of the nearest crossroads (where 2 roads or paths intersect and form a +)

It’s traditional in conjure to do these baths before sunrise, but other spiritual traditions cite different times. Use whatever timing is most familiar to you. If you have no particular tradition, then you may wish to just follow conjure guidelines and perform it before dawn.

1. About an hour or so before dawn gather your supplies in your bathroom, and disrobe.

2. If you are using incense, you may light it now.

3. Fill the tub about ankle deep, and add in your 3 Ingredient Cleansing Bath. Make sure the salts dissolve.

4. Hold the 2 white candles in your hands while you pray your intent over them.

5. Set the candles on either side of the tub, where you will walk between them when entering.

6. Light the candles, and imagine them making a Holy Doorway.

7. Walk between the candles and enter the bath.

8. Pour the water over your head and scrub your body with it in a DOWNWARDS direction.

9. While you are doing this pray the 51st Psalm, or otherwise pray and concentrate on your intent.

10. When you feel that you are clean, step back through the Holy Doorway.

11. Allow yourself to air-dry.

12. Collect some of your used bathwater in the container – an empty water bottle works just fine -then drain the tub.

13. Once you are dry, put on your clean change of clothes. You may snuff out the candles to reuse them the next 2 days you bathe.

14. Take the bottle of your used bathwater to the crossroads, and hurl it over your shoulder towards the West (where the sun sets).

15. Do not look back.

16. Go home!

Once home, you will want to give your home a thorough cleansing as well. You can do this using the same mixture that you used for your cleansing bath.

Simply add some of it to a bucket of water that you will use to clean with. Start at the back of your home and work your way towards the front door. Clean your floors – if you have tile you can mop, if you’d rather sweep then dip the bristles of the broom into the cleansing water, if you have carpet you can put some of the mixture into a spritzer bottle and spay it over the carpets after you vacuum, or you can use the broom method. If you have a lot of curtains and upholstery, use the spritz bottle lightly on them. Wipe down all your surfaces with some of the mixture as well. Don’t forget baseboards, window sills, doorframes, and walls as much as you can manage. Burn your incense while you do this, and keep the windows open so the smoke and negative energy can escape.

Pray the 51st Psalm, or otherwise concentrate and state your intent as you clean. Imagine all negative energy being pushed out of the room by the cleansing floor wash and the Uncrossing incense. Visualize bright White Light filling the space. When you are finished in a room, say a prayer of thanks over a white candle and light it. Allow it to burn out. (Birthday candles can be good for this, as they do not burn for very long.) You will need 1 candle per room.

The last room you clean should be the one with the front door. Have your final sweeps go out the front door of your house. Make sure to wipe down the doorframe, too. Light your final candle, and then put on some Blessing incense, or frankincense resin to burn. This will help bring in positive energy into your home, to fill the void that was left by the negative energy. Your home should now feel very light and airy, and much less “heavy” than before. (If it does not, then you may need to repeat, perhaps using a stronger spiritual cleansing mixture. If you do not know of a stronger mixture, you may wish to consult with a spiritual practitioner to have one prescribed for you.)

Continue with your cleansing baths for the next 2 days.

You may also wish to burn some of the Blessing incense or frankincense resin daily to maintain the pleasant, clean, and positive atmosphere. You can also always add some of the spiritual cleansing mixture to your regular cleansing products so that every time you clean your house you are also spiritually cleansing it. This will help keep negativity from easily being able to build up into crossed conditions again. If your workplace is also affected by the negative energy, you can bring in some of the cleansing mixture dissolved into water and wipe down your work area, or put some of the mixture into a spritz bottle to spray around your office and even your aura if you feel yourself being adversely effected by an stressful energies there.

Between the 3 baths and the thorough house cleansing, you should notice a remarkable difference in the energies. Things should start moving freely again in your life! Once things are moving well again and you are successfully uncrossed, you may wish to consider doing some Protection work for yourself and your home to add a further layer of defense against negative conditions being able to take hold again. This is especially true if you are still having to deal with the situation &/or people that contributed to the crossing in the first place! But by taking control of the situation, you can take back your power, and get your life moving in the right direction again, with health, wealth, and love flowing easily into your hands.

Be aware, there are certainly some times when we are crossed up so badly that simple cleansing methods just aren’t getting the job done. If you are in a crisis, feel that it could be due to crossed conditions of some sort, and are unsure about how to proceed, or have had no luck with more simple methods of Uncrossing and cleansing, you may wish to contact a spiritual practitioner to have areading and consultation on the matter. Through divination, they will be able to look at your situation in an objective manner from a more energetic and spiritual perspective, and be able to provide you with a course of action which should prove effective. Feel free to contact me at Queen of Pentacles Conjure Shop and Village Witchery to arrange for a consultation.

2 comments:

Hello Devi. I have seen that some people distinguish between a spiritual cleansing and cleaning for uncrossing, even saw the same for the use of certain herbs in the book of Cat Ironwood, ie cleansing herbs and herbs for uncrossing and I want to know why.

You don't have to be crossed up to benefit from spiritual cleansing. Just like you don't have to be covered in mud to benefit from a shower. It's exactly the same principal with spiritual cleansings.

If you are covered in mud (crossed up), then you absolutely have to take a shower - or two or more - to finally get really clean. That is what spiritual uncrossing work is doing. Peeling off the filth. Depending on how bad the crossing is, the more ardently you'll have to apply yourself to the cleansing to get free and clean.

But staying clean is as easy as a quick shower each day! And if you're showering each morning, then there's only a finite amount of dirt that can accumulate on you before you're in the shower again. That is what spiritual cleansing is for. It keeps everything running nice and smoothly for you, and IF someone is mean enough to cross you up, it will be much easier to get clean and they won't be able to get you are mired in filth!

About Me

Devi Spring has been practicing folk magic since 1997. With academic learning and practical experience in many different areas of world spiritual and folk magic traditions, she began offering divination and ritual work professionally to clients in 2008. She is the proprietress of Queen of Pentacles Conjure where she provides tarot readings, spiritual consultations, candle services, and a variety of custom crafted items such as mojo bags, bottle spells, and more.

She holds a Religious Studies, B.A. and is also a Usui Reiki Master-Teacher with an established healing and teaching practice in Toronto.

Devi has trained in many different forms of folk magic,and takes inspiration from traditions tied to her own heritage and those she has received initiation in. This has resulted in a unique and syncretic melange of hoodoo, Mexican folk religion, New Orleans conjure, universalist and folk expressions of Hinduism, Hermetic ceremonialism, and folk shamanic spirit-work paving her path.